Southeast Polk elementary students learn about their rights

Erin Sears' students created an evidence wall full of evidence that people use and need things like the Southeast Polk Code of Respect and the United States Bill of Rights.(Photo: Submitted photo/Erin Sears)

Southeast Polk third-grade teacher Erin Sears became a National Geographic certified teacher after she created a six-week lesson plan that explored what it means to have rights and the responsibilities that come with those rights.

Her goal throughout the project was to engage her students in the new state standards for social studies by using the same critical thinking and collaboration skills they'll have to use in the adult world someday.

The project was broken into three parts. The first piece of the project was exploring what they already knew at a local level. In this case, it was the Southeast Polk Respect Code.

It reads: "At Southeast Polk Community Schools… We respect ourselves, others, property, and class time. We strive to be and do our best. We treat others the way we want to be treated. We respect the property of the school and others."

Sears said her students read the respect code everyday, but she wasn't sure they truly knew what it meant. So, her students started to explore the school at every grade level, trying to figure out what it meant and how it was used.

Next, students learned about the United States Bill of Rights to explore rights on the national level. Finally, the students learned what rights are on an international level by studying the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

Sears said the students had heard of the Bill of Rights before, but the United Nations was new to them and several students from other countries at Southeast Polk were excited about the concept.

"Their favorite part was to see if their country of origin had signed on to the Declaration of Human Rights," Sears said. "Kids were like 'Tanzania signed!' They were very proud."

Students also participated in mini-units, including connecting with Peace Corps volunteers in Liberia, where many of Sears' students are from.

Later, they used a website called PenPal Schools to connect with people from different regions including Italy, Kansas and Lithuania.

Sears said she could monitor all of the kids' interactions, and that they were able to ask each other questions.

"I think if we're going to help students become the strongest students they can be they have to look past their own noses and out at the world," Sears said. "So again, that means reaching out past Southeast Polk."

Sears said she began the unit because she wanted to make sure she's challenging herself as a teacher and trying to do "different and interesting things" every year.

She started exploring different educational frameworks and found National Geographic, which she loved as a kid.

"A framework is just a way of thinking," Sears said. "They had a way of challenging kids to collaborate and think critically."

The National Geographic framework inspired her to get kids thinking beyond just Southeast Polk and combined that with the idea of exploring rights and responsibilities.

She said she decided to go for the certification and become a National Geographic certified educator because it's a great way to get access to new resources. Sears said she's excited to share with her colleagues information about the PenPal School website and the fact the Peace Corps can help a classroom contact any of their volunteers in any country fairly easily.

Sears is even taking her National Geographic responsibilities one step further. She didn't know about this opportunity when she began writing her lesson plans, but she's been invited to join National Geographic at their D.C. headquarters to provide feedback on the certification system for educators.